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Sidecar Issues on Monterey

ZircoBen

ZircoBen

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2015
186
200
Utah, USA
After having updated to version 12.0.1 last week, my Sidecar is almost completely useless. Over the last few days, it works for a max of a couple of minutes before just freezing up.

Anyone else having similar issues with Sidecar on Monterey or even better, found luck on the beta channel with Sidecar?
 
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I'm having trouble with Big Sur / iOS 15.1.
It used to work great and I'd use it to sign digital docs on my iPad from MS Word on the iMac.

Now it usually gives either a blank pane or the doc is visible but frozen. Sometimes it works but usually not. When it does work it feels more laggy than it used to. A real pity because it really streamlined boring tasks!

I think it might be iOS, not MacOs - there's another thread about it glitching after updating to iOS 15.1 which was about when mine glitched.
 
For me it is completely unusable when using it wirelessly. It freezes within a couple of seconds- but I have found luck when plugging it directly into my MacBook Pro and disabling Bluetooth.

I just hope Apple realizes this is an issue. Not seeing it in the changelogs for either iPad OS 15.2 or Monterey 12.1 is offputting.
 
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ZircoBen said:
For me it is completely unusable when using it wirelessly. It freezes within a couple of seconds- but I have found luck when plugging it directly into my MacBook Pro and disabling Bluetooth.

I just hope Apple realizes this is an issue. Not seeing it in the changelogs for either iPad OS 15.2 or Monterey 12.1 is offputting.
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Thanks, I'll try it plugged in and see if it's any better....
 
It looks like iPad OS 15.2 or Monterey 12.1 fixed this! I've only been using it for a couple of minutes but it looks like it's problem free.
 
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ZircoBen said:
It looks like iPad OS 15.2 or Monterey 12.1 fixed this! I've only been using it for a couple of minutes but it looks like it's problem free.
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I think it was fixed by iPadOs 15.2 - just updated and it's working great so far!
Haven't updated MacOs yet - need to psyche myself up to do that! ?
 
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I was having problems too with Monterey and Sidecar where the iPad would keep freezing. I updated to 15.2 and it seems to be an improvement.
 
To follow up, I think it has to do with the cables. T3 and T4 don't work; a regular USB-C cable does okay with Sidecar.
 
I am having issues using WiFi - sidecar doesn't work fist time and takes a few manual connection attempts.
 
I psyched myself up and updated MacOs - sidecar is having problems again.
New problem is that when loaded on iPad, the doc freezes there but moves on the iMac.... i.e. I scroll with fingers on the iPad, doc doesn't move, but it does on the computer. Weird.
Takes two or three attempts to get it working, every time. ?
 
Ive also had issues recently; it seems to freeze up just as you are describing. It is unusable wirelessly, so I have been plugging it into my MacBook while I work and doing that makes it stable.
 
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ZircoBen said:
Ive also had issues recently; it seems to freeze up just as you are describing. It is unusable wirelessly, so I have been plugging it into my MacBook while I work and doing that makes it stable.
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Thanks, I'll try it that way again.
 
Updated to iPadOs 15.3 and it finally seems to be fixed and working well on wifi! Yaaay!
 
Problems have persisted for me too every time I use it wirelessly. I just connect the iPad to the MacBook Pro directly.

Garbage fire, it seems like nobody at Apple is even aware of this? I've had the issue since Monterey release.
 
Anyone else STILL having issues with this? Sidecar is useless without a cable and freezes within 5 seconds.
 
ZircoBen said:
Anyone else STILL having issues with this? Sidecar is useless without a cable and freezes within 5 seconds.
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Yep, I've given up with it. Works with a cable but cable I have is so short it's not very comfortable to use iPad like that.
Simply resorted to Airdrop, open in the right app, and Airdrop back. Nowhere near as convenient but at least it works. Sidecar doesn't.
 
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I too deeply regret the upgrade to Monterey. I heavily rely on Sidecar when working remotely for that extra screen! Everything has worked great for a couple of years until yesterday. I am on 12.4 and 15.5, 16" MBP and iPad Pro.

I figured out Sidecar really lives in Control Center now--fine. But the AirPlay button on the TouchBar is still there but doesn't do anything. Nice attention to detail.

What has killed this for me are the following:

  1. The Dock and Menu Bar are missing from the iPad. They were both there until the upgrade: I don't think the intention is to mouse all the way back to the other screen just to hit a menu while Mail is on the iPad screen, folks. They were both there too until I clicked and held the green button in Mail and sent Mail to the iPad screen. Now, no Dock or Menu Bar on the extended screen. Unusable now.
  2. Ever since day one of owning the iPad Pro, I've used it as a second monitor. The only trouble I've had were by accident, usually killing the battery. But now, ouch. Even using the 0.3m ThunderBolt cable that I've always used, the iPad will freeze up: cursor sticks to the screen even though is works fine on Mac, or it'll just go blurry/grey. A hard reset of the iPad is all that fixes it.
  3. Wireless Sidecar seems to work, but exhibits the same problems. On the topic of WiFi, I get the feeling Sidecar still uses WiFi even though the iPad is connected via the TB cord. That doesn't make sense. How can I know for sure, other than putting iPad into Airplane Mode?
Man, I've been suckered into upgrades before, and promised never to do it again on my money maker machines. Both of my servers are running steady on El Cap! And since current versions of Server are just toys, they're staying on El Cap! I thought Monterey had been out long enough to smooth things out: major things too! Boy was I wrong. I was lazy too, and didn't check out the forums first!

Any advice would be welcome.
 
All,

I figured it out. The old "re-trace your steps and search every setting in the settings window, one by one trick" is how I stumbled on the fix.

So as to cut down on the seemingly higher RAM use in Monterey, I earlier turned off "Displays have separate Space" in Mission Control. (I read elsewhere in this forum that that helps save a little RAM.) Without this option checked, you lose the Dock and Menu Bar on the second screen--whether it's a SideCar screen or a Thunderbolt Display.

I hope this helps anyone else who lost their Dock or Menubar on the second screen.

I'm still having to do a hard reboot of the iPad every once in a while, as it has frozen up on me once since my last post even. Yikes:(
 
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JimmyMac said:
Dang, how long do you have to be a member of this forum to no longer be a newb? I joined this forum from my PowerBook Ti exactly 20 years ago today;)
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It goes by post count, and you have on average 1.2 posts per year. You'll outgrow Newbie at 30 posts, so in about 5 years if the trend continues. :p
 
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